Victory Museum to open New Year's exhibition

On December 18, the Museum of Victory will open the New Year's exhibition "History in miniature - a look through the ages". The new exposition, timed to the most favorite winter holiday, will tell not only about the traditions of celebrating the New Year, about gifts and Christmas tree toys, but also about the military history of our country. In the creation of the exhibition together with the Victory Museum took part the Association of military-historical miniatures of the Moscow branch of the Russian Military Historical Society, the Club of military leaders of the Russian Federation, the studio of tin miniatures "Baltic Collection of Soldiers", the studio of tin miniatures "Russian Rarity", the Creative Workshop of Vyacheslav Nazaruk, as well as private collectors.

"The exhibition will be part of the festive events that take place at the museum on New Year's Eve. These include festive concerts, master classes and, of course, the historical quest "Victory Tree", which will gather children from six to 13 years old at the museum on Poklonnaya Gora. For the first time a fascinating team journey will take place on the large-scale exposition "The feat of the people". During the 1.5-hour game the children will have adventures in historical scenery, costumed characters, exciting laser tag, secret ciphers and puzzles, a fight with an insidious computer virus", - noted in the Victory Museum.

The project "History in miniature - a look through the ages" will unite about 150 original exhibits. The exhibition will present Christmas postcards and Christmas tree toys of the mid-20th century from the funds of the Victory Museum. Among the exhibits is also a unique collection of "Soldiers of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", donated to the museum on Poklonnaya Hill by the Presidential Property Management Department of the Russian Federation. These are four figures: an infantryman, a scout, a nurse and a soldier-harmonist, made from the wood of the New Year's tree, which decorated the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin in 2020.

Visitors to the Victory Museum will see a collection of toys made according to Mikhail Shemyakin's sketches for the most New Year's ballet - the legendary "The Nutcracker". The artist not only created the scenery and costume designs, but also became a full co-author of this performance together with Valery Gergiev. The tree will be decorated with 10 pewter figures of the ballet's characters, these unusual, phantasmagoric images wonderfully convey the world of Hoffmann's fairy tales. The exposition will also include the Christmas collection - a composition "The Nativity of Christ", figurines of saints.

The basis of the exhibition will be a collection of tin soldiers, which illustrate different eras of Russian history - from the calling of the Varangians to the war in Afghanistan.

"Soldiers are one of the most desirable gifts for many generations of boys. But the history of these figures goes back to ancient times. Miniature warriors have been known since the ancient world. True, at that time they were part of funeral rites. Toy armies were at many European emperors, and since the end of the XVI century, miniature soldiers made of metal ceased to be the privilege of children of lords and their closest. These toys became most popular in the XIX-XX centuries, and gradually tin soldiers became not only children's fun, but also a collector's item", - said the curator of the exhibition, head of the exposition and exhibition department of the Victory Museum Ivan Kolegaev.

More than 100 tin soldiers will be presented to the guests of the museum. These are images of rulers of Russia - Rurik, Yuri Dolgoruky, Alexander Nevsky, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Lenin, Stalin and many others. The exposition will also show Russian warriors of different epochs. The figures accurately convey the details of their uniforms and weapons. Visitors will see a Novgorod soldier and a Moscow Streltsy, a grenadier and a hussar, a Red Army soldier and a partisan of the Great Patriotic War. Among the miniatures are not only ordinary soldiers, but also famous military leaders, such as Victory Marshal Georgy Zhukov and General Skobelev. In addition to single exhibits, there will also be historical compositions - the feat of General V.G. Kostenetsky (Borodino, 1812), the attack of the Saxon cavalry on the Russian infantry and Akhtyr hussars (Borodino, 1812), sailors of the All-Russian Emergency Commission (1917) and others.

The exhibition will be open until January 12, 2025. Age category 0+.

Venue: third floor, exhibition balcony.